Keeping traditions afloat
An intimate relationship with trees and timber is at the heart of Gail McGarva’s work. To build a wooden boat that combines form, function and beauty, she says, it is vital to understand the nature of every log used. It is this relationship that first drew her to the craft. “I just love that synergy between the living tree and the journey that you’re persuading it on, to become a boat that dances with the waves.”
I meet Gail outside the gig club boathouse on Lyme Regis’ Monmouth Beach. She seems very much in her natural environment and greets me with a friendly smile. With a warm and open manner, Gail speaks thoughtfully, with a great feeling for description – it’s clear she is a born storyteller. Indeed, Gail previously worked in theatre and education, then as a sign language interpreter, so taking up boatbuilding was something of
